Here and Now

So awhile back (I think it might have been the impetus for New Word Wednesday, actually) I was I was thinking about the meanings of words and I said "don't even ask me about irregardless ..." And no one did. I had no idea I had so much power... Anyway, in the Jeopardy category of"words that don't exist but get used all the freaking time anyway***" I give you the dreaded alot ... From this blog post I found the link surfing and, well, you just have to read what he has to say about it. You'll laugh. Alot. :) *** Okay, it's never been a category on Jeopardy, but it definitely should be one.

Gotta love the German language (Mark Twain once said, "Some German words are so long they have a perspective.") schadenfreude (SHAAD-n-froi-duh) noun Pleasure derived from others' misfortunes. [From German Schadenfreude, from Schaden (damage, harm) + Freude (joy).] "He (Bob Carr) would be only human to feel a touch of Schadenfreude if his state's problems were to cost Latham the election." Miranda Devine; The Pressure is on Latham; The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia); Sep 2, 2004. "Part of the attraction of the first seasons was Schadenfreude -- the joy in watching filmmakers suffer and struggle when they got their big chance. As the New York Sun newspaper put it in a headline 'Bad Film = Good TV'." Peter Henderson; Reality TV 'Project Greenlight' Has New Goal: Money; Reuters; Aug 6, 2004.

Lori and the girls and I were driving somewhere the other day and another driver did something stupid, I don't remember what, and so Lori and I started talking about this whole, "I'm the exception" attitude that is so prevalent in our society today. I said something like, "Everybody thinks it's all about them. Don't they know that it's really all about me." And Elie said from the back, "It's not all about you, Daddy." To which I gave my standard reply, "No, it's not, but it should be." And Elie said, "It's all about God." And I beamed - and Lori and I looked at each other the the joy that comes from knowing that you are the greatest parent in the world. You have instilled in the heart of your child an awareness of centrality of the presence of God in her life. You have passed on the primacy of loving God, of acknowledging Him first, of making God the center.... "Dad, Elie is making mean faces at

There are certain burning questions that every Christian must answer in total candor. Do you hunger for Jesus Christ? Do you yearn to spend time alone with him in prayer? Is he the most important person in your life? Does he fill your soul like a song of joy? Is he on your lips as a shout of praise? Or has he been smothered by distractions, nullified by pride? Do you eagerly turn to his memoirs, his Testament, to learn more of him? Do you thirst for the living water of his Holy Spirit? Are you making the effort to die daily to anything and everything that inhibits, diminishes, or threatens your friendship with him? To ascertain where you really are with the Lord, recall what saddened you the past month. Was it the realization that you do not love Jesus enough? That you did not seek his face in prayer often enough? That you did not care for his people enough? Or did you get depressed over a lack of respect, criticism from an authority figure, your finances, a lack of frien

Allegedly from George Carlin - whether it is or not from him, I liked it: “Some people see things that are and ask, Why? Some people dream of things that never were and ask, Why not? Some people have to go to work and don't have time for all that ...” I want to spend the rest of my life asking why and why not...

...Overtime I'm watching the Penguins - it's game five, if the Pens win, they win the series - it's the second overtime - been tied for 28+ minutes**...waiting, watching, wondering how these guys are still on their feet...uh, skates. And I was thinking about overtime - it's "sudden death" overtime. You know, the first team to score, wins the game (they only do this in the playoffs, it's weirder in the regular season). Basketball plays a full five-minute period, but the other major sports***, it's all sudden death (okay, not team handball, but you have to draw the line somewhere...). Anyway, I was thinking about calling it "sudden death." Here's the thing about it - it celebrates not the winner, but the loser (okay, doesn't really "celebrate" the loser so much as...um...focus on). Just found that interesting. It's not about who won, but who lost - sudden death. Not sudden life. Or immediate victory. Or whatever.

I was talking with one of my colleagues the other day and he was telling a story about me - something that I had related to him - but he had added all kinds of details that weren't what I had told him and, frankly, weren't true. When I called him on it, he said, "I'm a pastor, I embellish. It's what we do." That struck a nerve with me - not because I haven't ever embellished a story to make it funnier or conflated a story or two to make a point - indeed, I think we probably all do that to some extent. We do tend to want to make our stories more interesting and possibly more entertaining but that's not really the point, here. I don't really have a problem with mild embellishments of personal stories - I might make myself sound dumber in something that I did that I really was, to make a point or whatever - but it's that he said, "I'm a pastor, I embellish. It's what we do." And, well, yeah, it IS what we do...sometimes.

Just read this one today - but it's all kind of awesome: SARCASTROPHE, n. An embarrassing and catastrophic event occurring when an individual attempts and fails to use humorous sarcasm [blend of sarcasm and catastrophe ]. Context and source: "Todd's failed attempt at humorous sarcasm resulted in a sarcastrophe at dinner." BTW - the LAMEST context sentence in the history of...um...context sentences...

The original (from, what, two weeks ago) is here . Just, well, so true:

"Often the rhetoric we use to describe our life in Christ bears only a thin resemblance to where we really are. We boast of what we are giving because it hides what we are withholding. We allow ourselves to believe that we are capable of love just because we are capable of devout sentiment. Thomas Merton writes: One dimension of this convenient spirituality is our total insistence on ideals and intentions, in complete divorce from reality, from actions, and from social commitment. Whatever we interiorly desire, whatever we dream, whatever we imagine: that is the beautiful, the godly and the true. Pretty thoughts are enough. They substitute for everything else including charity, including life itself. We see avarice, rampant greed, and the exploitation of the poor on a community level. Frequently, our response is to denounce others and walk away from them, though we are all implicated. The gospel presses us to painful honesty. If nothing else, we ought to be sincere. Get o

So last Friday was my day off and I was supposed to go car shopping with my mom (she's getting a new car, not me) - but she got called into work for, I think, the ninth day in a row and she couldn't come over. But this isn't really about mom or car shopping. While I was waiting for her to call, I was being productive with my time and, of course, surfing the net. And I came across this site: Photoshop Disasters . Let me warn you before you click, it's rated PG (adult humor mostly, though some of the images on the site I think are probably NSFW***) Anyway, here's a couple of the images from that site that interested me (you can tell from what they are the kind of stuff that I think is funny - though my favorite below I'll just call Tatooine, for reasons that should bed obvious when you see it - oh, and Spinal Tap is just a bonus). I've done bad photoshop work (well, bad Gimpshop work, but still...) and I can attest that it's painfully easy to miss the obvi

PROLLY, adv. Likely to happen, possibly occur. [elided pronunciation of "probably." Assimilation of the "b"to an "l"] Context and source: "I'm prolly going to the party tonight." Just because I see this online all the time...

So I just caught wind that the Postal Service is in deep trouble (there's a note here , if you want more depth, you'll have to dig it up yourself). I mean, I knew that it wasn't exactly thriving, but it sounds pretty dire - layoffs, reducing mail delivery to 5 days a week, closing post offices and, of course, raising rates. All because a government run "business" can't move with the market (UPS and FEDEX still seem pretty solvent, though more diversified than before). Don't get me wrong, I don't blame the local people at all - my mail carrier is a great guy who's doing a great job - and I'm thankful that there's a post office in Pittsfield (I was, frankly, surprised that there was - but I'm thankful) and they seem to do a pretty decent job (always friendly when I go in and helpful). But it's a bureaucracy...and that's guaranteed to be inefficient (though not a guarantee that it will fail...just seems to be the case). So, I

So - this is from Dork Tower, one of my favorite online comics (it's mostly about geek culture, but once in a while there's something more universal). Anyway, here's a link to the actual post (spend a few hours reading archives...if you dare...heh). Friday March 19 It piqued my interest because I just saw my friend Aaron with his two boys and I remembered him saying (I thought at first it was on his blog...but I can't find it anywhere) that when they were waiting to adopt their second little boy they were a little freaked out - Corban was, I think, 2 years old when he came home but Tobiah would be a baby - and they were like first time parents waiting for their second child. And I still remember all those fears (both times) and hopes and wonderings and flipping outs (okay, is that even a phrase?)... Well, anyway, here's Dork Tower:

So, for those who care, Ben Roethlisberger will not have charges filed against him. But this isn't about Ben, per se. Within half an hour of the press conference, a number of online outlets published the news. Mostly what you'd expect. ESPN. No surprise. MSNBC. Ooo, not exactly a scoop, but...okay. USA Today - again, no surprise. Vancouver Sun. What? What the heck does Canada care about Amercian Football? Okay - let me apologize to my phantom Canadian readers. Sorry. Seriously, why does ANYONE outside of the rabid NFL fan circles even care? I mean I get it if you're a huge Steeler fan. Or if you hate the Steelers. But the rest of the world? Oh well... Just wish it was NFL players doing GOOD THINGS that got exported as news...wait, that WOULD be news!!

Going backwards a bit in the book: Drawing on the Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard ( Matthew 20:1-16 ): Our puny works do not entitle us to barter with God. Everything depends on God's good pleasure. The salvation offered by Jesus is purely gratuitous, intended especially for those who have no title for it, those who are so conscious of their unworthiness that they have to rely on the mercy of God. The self-righteous imagine that they have earned salvation through observance of the law. Refusing to give up this madness, they reject the merciful love of the redeeming God. In the misery of the sinner, Jesus sees the possibility of salvation. "Of such is the kingdom of God." If in Russia the sinner was once sent to Siberia, in the church she is called to the kingdom. It is a pure gift to those who have no right to it. This is the very heart of the gospel and the fundamental theme of the beatitudes - the nonvalue of the beneficiaries of the kingdom. To say that

I talked to my uncle last weekend. He owns a small trucking company and I realized that he really runs his business with integrity (I mean, I always suspected it, but it was really good to hear it confirmed). He was talking about how he believes in keeping his word in business - as Andy Stanley calls it Moral Authority - when there's alignment between Creed and Deed. When you do what you say and say what you'll do. He told me about a guy in another city who always calls him first - because if my uncle says a driver will be there tomorrow morning, a driver will be there. And if he CAN'T get a driver there, he says so. But the guy pushes him - I'll offer you more money. Nope, still can't. Double the money. Nope, I don't have a driver available. He said, "I can't pull a driver from another customer - say, sorry, I got more money somewhere else." And I thought to myself, "Not sure that's a good business model." No, really, I tho

Pastor Steve has been leading a Bible study on Sunday nights through the book of Malachi - great study of a great book of the Bible. So, part of the problem that Malachi points out to the people of Israel is that they've been involved in paganism - that their worship of the One True God has been infiltrated by paganism. Now we defined paganism as "trying to manipulate God." Now that takes a variety of forms, but usually it's "if I get the sacrifice just right, then it doesn't matter how I live, God has to do..." whatever or say the right things, do the right things, etc. Like magic formulas. And if we think that's just an artifact of an ancient time (okay, most people don't think in terms exactly like that...but I'm not most people, either, am I?) we're chock full of paganism these days. There's whole strains of folk religion out there that just spring up out of...well, I'm not sure. It sure isn't the Bible. No one coul

Once we assuage our conscience by calling something a "necessary evil", it begins to look more and more necessary and less and less evil. -Sydney J. Harris, journalist (1917-1986)

upskill v. [often as noun upskilling ] teach (an employee) additional skills. · (of an employee) learn additional skills.

When I was in seminary I worked at the library. One night my Greek Professor, Dr. Gagnon, was checking out some books for something that he was writing. We talked a bit about the possibilities of me pursuing a doctorate and , about his work in New Testament studies, stuff like that. I don't remember most of the details of the conversation but I do remember asking him if he liked writing - because it's such a big part of what he did. He said, "I like 'having written.'" And I get it. I recently had this kind of conversation with Pastor Steve as well. Steve said that by the time he writes out his sermon he's worked it all out in his head, so it's like he's re-doing it, or something (though neither one of us is any where near ready to go without notes...) But that's not the case for me and I think I nailed what goes on in my head about writing when Steve and I were talking. When I plan out any writing project (yep, even blog posts which I'

To grasp the truth of the gospel is to fall on our faces in both sorrow and gratitude. To live as Jesus lived is to move off the floor and into the world. “The imitation of Christ,” writes George Montague, “goes to the very assimilation of his interior attitudes, his way of thinking.” The late Romano Guardini once stated that Francis of Assisi “allowed Jesus Christ to become transparent in his personality.” If this is what it means to live as a Christian, why are the personalities of so many pious, proper, and correct Christians so opaque? Why doesn’t the peace of Christ reign in our hearts, “since as members of the one body we have been called to peace” (Colossians 3:15)? Why don’t the gentleness, compassion and trust that Much Afraid saw shining in the eyes of the Shepherd (in Hannah Hurnard’s Hinds’ Feet on High Places ) shine from our eyes? Why don’t our contagious joy, enthusiasm, and gratitude infect others with a love for Christ Jesus? Why doesn’t the radiant loveliness

Today is the day - I mean THE day. Alleluia, He is Risen. He is Risen Indeed!! I'll post a link to the audio from this morning's sermon when it gets posted online. Here's the text that I preached from - minus the multiple handwritten notes that end up on my manuscripts... April 4, 2010 Easter Sunday Series: Who Are You – Discipleship Mark 16:1-14 “Who Are You Believing?” [ Mark 16:1-8 ] Pause here and talk briefly about the “shorter” and “longer” endings of Mark. What does it suggest if the Gospel really ends here? “Trembling and bewildered, the women FLED the tomb. They said nothing to anyone because they were afraid.” It is telling that the very first witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection are women – women had followed Jesus, had supported his ministry and had stood by the cross when even the Eleven disciples had fled or denied Jesus. Every Gospel writer makes the same point – that very early on Sunday, some women went to the tomb and they w